1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to figure recognition processing and, more particularly, to processing for recognizing a two-dimensional (planar) figure.
2. Related Background Art
A conventional electro-publishing (electronic publishing) apparatus and a conventional desk-top publishing (portable electronic publishing) apparatus employs the following method of generating figures such as cuts and illustrations. Data of basic figures (to be referred to as primitive figures) such as rectangles and circles are prepared, and these primitive figures are combined to generate a new figure as needed. According to another conventional method of this type, points on an outline or edge to be created are designated as control points, and lines which pass through the control points are connected by using straight lines, curves, and parabolas.
According to these conventional methods, the outlines of the primitive figures are used as basic shapes, and these basic shapes are combined to obtain a desired figure. In practice, satisfactory figures can be created as far as these methods are applied to simple maps, simple block diagrams, and simple wiring diagrams.
Figures such as those of animation characters and abstract objects (e.g., animals, men, and vehicles) may often be impressive when they are expressed by shapes different from those of the primitive outlines. In this case, graphic expressions obtained by only the conventional primitive-figures are unsatisfactory.
When a new figure is created by connecting only control points, the number of points is increased and the drawing procedures are complicated, resulting in inconvenience.
There has never been proposed a method using outlines of natural pictures and objects for new illustrations.
Strong demand has also arisen for utilizing already existing image and object shapes so as to omit operations for creating new figures. For example, an existing shape is used after being modified to a "cylindrical" shape or a "barrel" shape. These demands cannot be sufficiently satisfied, and input operations must be started from the beginning to obtain a desired new shape.